In a move headed for the Irony Hall of Fame, No. 2 tobacco marketer Reynolds American (RAI), parent of R.J. Reynolds, announced today that it's buying Niconovum, a Swedish marketer of smoking-cessation products, for $44 million.

It's a sea change from recent decades, when tobacco companies inclduding Reynolds, based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, denied that nicotine was even addictive. "Niconovum's products have great potential in meeting consumer demand and public health objectives," Reynolds American's chairman-president-CEO Susan M. Ivey said in a statement. "This acquisition extends the harm-reduction strategies RAI and its operating companies have been developing over the past several years."

If it weren't for the swine flu, vaccine-maker Novavax (NVAX) may have remained in the somewhat obscure realm of small clinical-stage biotechs. But the H1N1 pandemic and the vaccine shortage that ensued propelled this $330 million market capitalization company to broader awareness after it proposed a novel way of manufacturing the vaccine that gets around the age-old method of growing the virus in chicken eggs.

Novavax says its proprietary virus-like particle technology can slash weeks off the time needed to produce vaccine, and it's moving closer to commercializing its flu vaccines.

The stock market struggled but held its ground Wednesday as an upbeat assessment of the economy from the Federal Reserve offset drops in bank and energy stocks. Most stocks finished higher after the Fed said regional economic activity has generally improved since its last snapshot in October. The central bank also said consumer spending has strengthened even as employment and commercial real estate remain weak.

The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 19 points a day after jumping 126. Reports of analysts' warnings about bank stocks hurt financial shares, while a steep drop in oil weighed on energy companies.

All that glitters is not gold -- platinum and palladium are on even hotter streaks -- but who cares? The yellow metal hit another nominal record high Wednesday, briefly topping $1,217 an ounce before settling at $1,213, and it shows no sign of melting down anytime soon.

The Incredible Shrinking Dollar is mostly to blame. The Federal Reserve wants a cheap dollar to help boost exports and create jobs, but so far it's just made the buck the biggest geek at the currency prom. Central banks and institutional investors at home and abroad feel pretty stupid holding rapidly depreciating greenbacks, so they're dumping dollars and hording gold.

The economic recovery gained traction in late fall as shoppers spent a bit more and factories bumped up production. That assessment Wednesday by the Federal Reserve marked its most upbeat view since the economy tumbled into recession two years ago.

The Fed's new snapshot of business barometers nationwide found that conditions have generally improved since the last report in late October.

Eight of the Fed's 12 regions surveyed reported some pickup in activity or improved conditions, the Fed said. Those regions were: Boston, New York, Chicago, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Dallas and San Francisco.

To get a sense of what Goldman Sachs (GS) has pulled off in the last two years, consider:

Goldman Sachs was directly responsible for creating, marketing, and trading many of the toxic financial instruments behind the mortgage crisis and resulting recession. The bank's irresponsible behavior nearly caused its collapse, and taxpayers had to bail it out. Public funds saved Goldman Sachs, which this year is minting money and watching its stock soar.

File this under "stupid sex ads." While it's true that sex sells -- and has for more than a century -- a rash of recent ads from top marketers has proven there are exceptions to that rule.

Take this TV commercial from Hall's Refresh, a sugar-free candy "with advanced moisture lotion." The ad carries a theme that's popping up on a number of TV shows, from ABC's Cougar Town to Fox's Glee : older woman hitting on a younger man (remember the teenage Puck's pool-cleaning service in Glee?). In the Hall's ad, a harried looking mom, helping her son move into his new dorm, is kindly offered a Hall's Refresh by his roommate. What happens next verges into "what were they thinking?" territory. The teen- and the middle-aged mom gaze at each other, mouths wetly moving from side to side as they masticate. "I wonder if she likes it," the roommate thinks in a suggestive voice-over. Sure, it's debatable whether Cougar Town's depiction of that dynamic is pathetic or empowering, but the Hall's ad plays squarely to creepy.

There is nothing more depressing than those beat-up, decrepit portable buildings that schools across the country use for classrooms or offices. Most of these trailers on blocks don't meet modern construction standards. That's because many are decades old, in use well beyond their accepted lifespan. Aside from being mold traps and sources of unhealthy air, portables are also, by and large, incredibly inefficient. They tend to be cooled by wall-mounted air-conditioning units in the summers, which suck up power to counter-balance the uninsulated roofs and poorly ventilated metal-box construction.

Which is why I went to visit Project FROG (Flexible Response to Ongoing Growth) in San Francisco. The company hopes to become the Apple (AAPL) of the pre-fabricated building industry, a purveyor of elegant design that translates into a better user experience. And Project FROG is one of the hottest venture-backed entities in the nascent green building sector.

Tired of TARP? It doesn't sound like it's going away just yet. Treasury Secretary Timothy gave Congress a strong signal Wednesday that the government's $700 billion bailout fund will survive beyond its initial expiration date at the end of this year.

Moving too soon to end the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the centerpiece of last year's efforts to rescue financial companies threatened by frozen credit markets, would threaten the economy just as it's showing signs of life again, Geithner said in testimony before the Senate Agriculture Committee.

When they write the story of the Great Recession, future historians will probably overlook the Ped Egg. That's a pity, because the device, which shaves dead skin off your feet like a cheese grater, is huge, downturn-defying success.

In fact, the Ped Egg is the most successful product in the history of its maker, TeleBrands. The firm, which calls itself the leading television marketing company, has sold some $300 million worth of them, both through its infomercials and through its retail partners, company CEO AJ. Khubani tells DailyFinance. TeleBrands offers its "As Seen on TV" products through a number of retailers, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT), Staples Inc. (SPLS) and Sears Holdings Inc. (SHLD).